Pages

May 21, 2014

Racing with Lucas, a 5k recap

On Saturday morning, the Stride and Girls on the Run Programs in Wilmington had their 5k race as the culmination of the twelve week spring program. As I mentioned several weeks ago, my race day buddy would be Lucas. We had made plans to run with his friend Hayes and his mother DeLisa since both boys ran a similar pace during their practice 5k. Arriving quite early on Saturday, the race location was bustling with activity and my first order of business was picking up my "buddy bib". My bib did not have a chip in it and Megan, Lucas' mother kindly provided my race entry.

Local businesses were very generous in donating many things for the race. In the swag bag we received coupons for a Chick Filet chicken sandwich, (I gave mine to Megan), a Pure Protein bar, local race information, a race sticker and a Subway coupon. The race shirt is really nice, made out of a soft cotton and something I will wear.

Back to race morning. I met up with the Eaton Elementary school group and found Lucas and our little group. With over an hour until the race would start, this group of boys had way too much energy. After a few group photos, we found several of them, behind these bushes, goofing around as boys will do!

They did pose for this photo, sort of, and then it was back to playtime. With about 15 minutes to go until the race would start, the Girls on the Run coach from Eaton put the girls through their paces with some warm up drills. Several of the boys joined in and that gave them something to focus on.

Finally it was time to line up. I took a pre-race photo of DeLisa and Hayes and soon we were walking to the start.

The sun was really bright!

The boys were put in the first corral and soon we were off with the plan of staying with a reasonable pace for the first couple miles and to kick it home with half a mile to go. The boys had run their practice 5k at 11 minute mile pace, so we were definitely hoping to go a bit better than that.

I stopped at around 1.5 miles to take this photo!

The boys enjoyed running together and everyone seemed comfortable with the pace. By the time we reached 2.5 miles, both Hayes and Lucas were ready to pick up the pace and managed to pass several runners on the way to the finish line.

With a few hundred yards to go

Both DeLisa and I are so proud of these two boys. They had a strong finish and their time was 31:40. And best of all, they got medals after crossing the finish line.

Two happy runners!

It was an absolute pleasure being able to run with Lucas and share his first 5k. Hopefully he and Hayes will rejoin the program next year for more running fun!

Looks like you had a lot of fun. I volunteered a few weeks ago for Girls on the Run and enjoyed it. I was surprised to see boys at Girls on the Run, but there were several running at the race I volunteered at. Didn't know if the Stride was similar. Even though it focused on boys, could girls could run too. My volunteered consisted of corral control and handing out goodies at the end of the race. I would love to sign up to be a buddy sometime.~L

Looks like you all had a great race and a fun time! I think it's great that you got involved with the community and helping the youth become/stay active. I'd love to be a running buddy, but I think I'm too slow. Nevertheless, I'm going to look into it :)

Pam and Christine

About Pam and Christine

Hi there! We are a mother-daughter running team who have completed multiple marathons and half marathons all over the world. What started as a deal to run a half marathon together in Walt Disney World in 2011 has led us to California, Dublin, Boston, and beyond! Read more...